1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to methods for exciting fishing line attached lures and other fish attractors having luminescent properties. More particularly, the invention relates to a self-contained, portable device for saturating a phosphorescent attractor in a much more rapid manner which provides maximum luminance for a long period of time.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Sports fishermen today, and particularly those who fish at night or in low light conditions, use fishing lures and other attractors which fully, or partly, are coated or provided with a phosphorescent or photoluminous material which must be activated or excited after short periods of use by exposing them to an external light source. In some cases, the photoluminous energy storing material is incorporated in another material such as a plastic, prior to the time the attractor is molded or otherwise fashioned. Attractors which are activated to glow in the dark have been marketed for a long time and are, for example, illustrated in the Lafky U.S. Pat. No. 1,817,694, the Herrell U.S. Pat. No. 1,900,339, and the Townsend U.S. Pat. No. 2,303,097. Fishermen, today, use incandescent light sources such as flashlights, vehicle headlights or spot lights, and coleman-type lanterns for reactivating the photoluminous material, but "charging" the photoluminous material with such light sources has required an undue period of time, and the photoluminous material has not produced the required luminosity which many fishermen desire and find useful. Other fishermen have used the flashbulbs on their personal cameras but, aside from risking their cameras in so doing, because cameras are not normally leak proof nor suited to harsh environments, the light which spreads out from the flashbulb, and is not concentrated, often does not provide as long an activation as the user would like, and it takes many flashes to achieve excitation. Obviously, battery degradation is a problem in the use of the battery activated units mentioned, which require a long period of time to achieve the excitation which they provide. More recently, a device which simply is a flashbulb affixed to a battery casing has been marketed as a lure charger, but this device operates in the same manner as a camera flashbulb and provides only the same results. Other strobe type units to be found in the marketplace are the strobe lights used for signaling, for example, and, while these can be used in the same manner as the camera, they are not well suited to exciting fishing lures.